Initiative

The Initiative is a human organization from the Revenge of the Fallen franchise in the live-action film continuity family.

Hal Jordan's boardroom construct was less than intimidating

The Initiative is a shadowy organization. They have a military arm with access to effective anti-Cybertronian weaponry, derived from the Transformers they've captured. Their ultimate aim is to use Cybertronian technology to serve them, and the latest extension to that plan is the creation of a new AllSpark.

Members include:

• Carter Newell — AKA "Initiative-1", is head of the organisation.
• Hank Kirkpatrick — leader of Project Nefarious, the operation to recreate the AllSpark.
• Woolf — head of the Initiative's "deep-freeze".
• Ingrid — reprogramming Transformers to serve the Initiative.

Fiction

IDW movie comics

After developing a hatred of Transformers at an early age, Carter Newell began a life-long obsession with wiping them out. Nefarious #6 He formed the Initiative with the help of a number of wealthy backers. A large base was developed that could break up into a number of wheeled vehicles and move around relatively freely. Transformers were captured, placed under Initiative control, and put in the base's "deep-freeze". Nefarious #5

Project Nefarious was begun and the Initiative began to search for appropriate sources of energy to power their creation. They captured and reconstructed Ravage following the Decepticon's destruction at Gisa, and sent him to Guantanamo Bay to appropriate the remains of some appliancebots. Ravage ended up in Kingdom Petrochemicals which was destroyed by the US military. Tales of the Fallen #5 The Initiative sent troops to the remains of the plant to drain power from the appliancebots. They were spotted by Buzzsaw which led to them fighting Soundwave's animalistic Decepticons. When Autobots arrived and attacked the Decepticons, the Initiative troops were forced to withdraw, though they had drained 93% of the available energy. Newell met with the Initiative board to assure them everything was under control, though afterwards Kirkpatrick warned him that the Cube could destroy much of the planet if they failed to feed it enough energy. Nefarious #1

In need of more power, Newell had Ingrid send a strike team to Hoover Dam to collect residual energy from the original AllSpark's long stay there, and also had her delete any record of the location from government watch lists. Meanwhile, information gleaned from Ravage's mind led some foolhardy Decepticons to the Initiative's Wendover, Utah facility, and the location was destroyed by the failsafe the Initiative had left behind. Newell made sure NEST were subtly informed of the Decepticons presence there. Nefarious #2 While the Initiative team started drilling at the dam, NSA agent Theodore Galloway had noticed the location's disappearance from Sector Seven records and began heading there to investigate. Newell ordered Woolf to defrost one of their stock of Transformers, and Woolf dispatched Ransack to attack Galloway's helicopter. Nefarious #3

While Ransack tore up Galloway's helicopter, Ingrid questioned Newell on what was in Isolation-1 and didn't get many answers, and Kirkpatrick reminded everyone they were staring down the barrel of global Armagaddon if the mission at the dam failed. The diversion with Galloway bought the team at the dam the time they needed, and Newell paid a visit to the giant Transformer head in Isolation-1 to have a bit of a gloat. Nefarious #4 Newell had himself wired into the AllSpark cube and immediately used this newfound power to terminate the rest of the Initiative board. He headed into Isolation-1 once again, and was still in there when the Autobots and Decepticons, having managed to track the mobile base to Crater Lake. With the base under attack, Newell ordered the rest of the Initiative-controlled Transformers be thawed to counter-attack. He revealed to Kirkpatrick his true intent for the Initiative — to wipe out all alien life on the planet. Nefarious #5

As Newell drew dangerously on the AllSpark's power, Kirkpatrick, Ingrid and Woolf tried to stop him, only for him to fry Kirkpatrick. Ingrid used stolen codes to access Isolation-1 and talk to Fortress. Newell attempted to use the AllSpark power to destroy all of the Transformers, but was attacked by Reedman, unleashed from a newly-freed Ravage. He destroyed Reedman but suffered a serious injury, and attempted to make a break for it in one of the base's mobile components. Ingrid meanwhile freed Fortress, who promptly reformatted part of the mobile base into a new body for himself. Newell was stopped terminally by Optimus Prime and Buzzsaw, and Fortress took the AllSpark into space where it exploded, destroying him. The surviving Initiative personnel were rounded up by NEST. Nefarious #6